| For Immediate Release Case # 09SF0637
July 21, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
FLOOR SUPERVISOR TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR
SETTING UP TWO RITE AID ARMED ROBBERIES
WHILE CLAIMING TO BE VICTIM
NEWPORT BEACH – A Rite Aid floor supervisor will be arraigned tomorrow for setting up two armed robberies and then claiming to be the victim. Cynthia Ongamsing-Jenkins, 43, Tustin, is charged with two felony counts of grand theft, one felony count of second degree commercial burglary, one felony count of second degree robbery, one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime, and a sentencing enhancement for knowingly and vicariously being armed with a firearm. She has a prior strike for a 1993 attempted murder conviction. Ongamsing-Jenkins faces a maximum sentence of 15 years and eight months in state prison if convicted. The defendant is out of custody on $100,000 bail and is scheduled for arraignment tomorrow, Wednesday, July 22, 2009, at 8:30 a.m. in Department H-1, Harbor Justice Center, Newport Beach.
On the night of Nov. 11, 2007, while working at the Rite Aid located at 2300 Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa as a supervisor, Ongamsing-Jenkins is accused of reporting to Costa Mesa Police Department (CMPD) officers that she and another employee had been robbed. She is accused of telling the police that two male subjects walked into the store armed with a handgun and ordered the two employees to give them the cash from the register and store safe. The suspects stole approximately $5,500. The other employee was taken at gunpoint and forced into the store cooler. Even though the robbery was captured on surveillance tape, no one identified the two suspects and no arrests were made at that time.
On June 20, 2009, while working as a floor supervisor at the Rite Aid located at 24829 Del Prado in Dana Point, Ongamsing-Jenkins is accused of filing a false report with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) claiming that she was approached by a man as she was walking through the parking lot of a Bank of America in Dana Point with a deposit bag. She is accused of falsely reporting to OCSD that the man pushed her to the ground and stole the deposit bag containing approximately $20,000 for that week’s deposits. A civilian called 9-1-1 after hearing Ongamsing-Jenkins yell that she had been robbed. The robbery was captured by a security camera overlooking the bank parking lot.
Further investigation led to OCSD retrieving information from the defendant’s cell phone. Ongamsing-Jenkins is accused of sending and receiving text messages setting up the crime.
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